Swine Flu

The latest newsletter from Dr. Mercola highlights the abundant misinformation regarding swine flu. I found these facts to be most interesting:
1. We know from the experience of the Southern hemisphere (which just finished its flu season) that the swine flu is no more dangerous than the flus we experience every year.
2. The last time our government pushed for a swine fly vaccination, more people died from the vaccine than from the flu.
3. No vaccine is free of side effects and every vaccine carries the risk of death or injury. For more information, I suggest the National Vaccine Information Center.

Meanwhile, here are some tips to avoid the flu (good advice from a forwarded email):

1. Frequent hand-washing (well highlighted in all official communications).
2. "Hands-off-the-face" approach. Resist all temptations to touch any part of face (unless you want to eat, bathe or slap).
3. *Gargle twice a day with warm salt water (use Listerine if you don't trust salt). *H1N1 takes 2-3 days after initial infection in the throat/nasal cavity to proliferate and show characteristic symptoms. Simple gargling prevents proliferation. In a way, gargling with salt water has the same effect on a healthy individual that Tamiflu has on an infected one. Don't underestimate this simple, inexpensive and powerful preventative method.
4. Similar to 3 above, *clean your nostrils at least once every day with warm salt water. *Not everybody may be good at Jala Neti or Sutra Neti(very good Yoga asanas to clean nasal cavities), but *blowing the nose hard once a day and swabbing both nostrils with cotton buds dipped in warm salt water is very effective in bringing down viral population.
5. *Boost your natural immunity with foods that are rich in Vitamin C(citrus fruits are good). *If you have to supplement with Vitamin C tablets, make sure that it also has Zinc to boost absorption.
6. *Drink as much of warm liquids (tea, coffee, etc) as you can.*Drinking warm liquids has the same effect as gargling, but in the reverse direction.They wash off proliferating viruses from the throat into the stomach where they cannot survive, proliferate or do any harm.